Explained: The gender controversy miring women's Olympic boxing

Two Olympic boxers have found themselves at the centre of a fractious controversy in recent days, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow them to compete in Paris.

Thousands of comments - and numerous news articles – have claimed Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting are "biological men" who should not be allowed to compete in women’s boxing.

One video of Khelif fighting in 2022 has been reposted by 37,000 accounts on X in recent days, receiving millions of views. It describes her as a man "cheating in the Olympics."

Yet an examination of the evidence for such claims made against both boxers shows they appear based almost wholly on a single statement from a Russian official published in the form of a Telegram post last March.

While much of the reporting and commentary has described the two boxers as 'transgender' there is also no evidence or public pronouncements that show either athlete identifies as transgender.

They have both competed as women throughout their careers.

In recent years, gender eligibility has become a growing controversy in relation to sport and since the most recent Tokyo Olympics some sports bodies have updated their gender rules.

Several of these governing bodies now ban athletes who went through male puberty from competing in women’s events. However, there is also no available evidence to support the idea that either of the boxers at the centre of the controversy went through male puberty.

Regardless, the issue has been brought up at IOC press conferences and covered widely in international media in recent days.

The basis for the claims

The claims relating to Khelif and Lin stem back to an event organised by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in New